Towel Drills Back in 2009!

Love the Cubs? Have an opinion? Want to express it in a forum read by dozens of Cubs fans on a bi-annual basis?
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Towel Drills started last year as a way for a few friends to share their Cubs rants with even more friends. Somewhere along the line, you, Cubs Fan, started paying attention. Before long, Towel Drills was bigger than Jebus. And now we're asking for your help to continue to grow TD into the Blogawesomeosphere.

TD is looking to take on a few additional writers for the upcoming season. We need people who can commit to posting on a regular basis and who have access to post throughout the day. We're specifically seeking at least one "news man" who can post breaking Cubs news the segundo it drops. Freedom to also write about what interests you in relation to the Cubs we can offer. Any other form of payment, monetary, seshual, or other, we cannot (but only b/c the seshual thing is illegal).

If you're interested in trying your hand at blogging, hit us up at toweldrills@gmail.com. How you "apply" is up to you. Send us some writing, some ideas, an 8x10 glossy of Ronnie Woo Woo (please, don't), send bags of cash (please, do)-your call. We're looking forward to adding some talent to the staff and to continue making TD the best gosh darn TD it can be!

I think I speak for my boys here at TD when I say that our favorite choice for the future owner of our favorite sports franchise is and will continue to be Mark Cuban. I get wet dreams thinking about this guy owning the Cubs. I would think any sports fan would. Name me one guy that is more dedicated to providing the absolute best for his team or one owner in sports that is more about building the best possible team he can in an attempt to, above all, win more than Cuban. The guy's the man. If Lou Pinella was my dream manager-then Cuban is my dream owner.

Cuban "gets it." He really seems to understand what it is that makes the Cubs so special. And I think he'll work to protect it. Here's what he had to say Friday on "Waddle and Silvy":

Cuban: Well, I mean, you know, the Cubs experience in Wrigley Field is what it is. I mean, there's nothing more special in all of sports than going to a Cubbie game. You know, it's more in terms of you've got to be a partner with the people that live around you. And there's peoples live who don't go up and down based off of the Cubs, they have to live in that area and how can you be partners with them so schools, and community centers and the rest can benefit from the Cubs and Wrigley Field and, you know, those are would be some of the things I'm including on my list.

Would you want Wrigley Field to be part of the deal?

Cuban: Absolutely. Definitely would want Wrigley Field to be part of the deal because you have to protect the experience. The state's job is to look out for the citizens of the state of Illinois, not just for Cubs fans and that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a good match and, you know, separating the two, again, it's Sam Zell's final decision, but it'd be important to me to own Wrigley because you want to protect Wrigley. You know, a lot of people question whether a new owner is going to come in and change it and change the ivy and change just the feel of it and the experience of it, and that's something I would not want to do.

What more could you ask of out of the next owner of our club? This guy? Or some group of suits who want to figure out how to run the club "like a business" and turn it in to the Florida Marlins with their $21 million total payroll? (Yes...I know they've won 2 World Series lately...just take the point).

As you likely well know, the sentiment on Cuban's potential ownership is that the old boy's baseball club will attempt to keep the bratty billionaire on the outside. The thinking being that the old white men that own MLB clubs won't want to deal with a young hot shot mouthing off about umpires or baseball policy. Whatever. Baseball is enjoying the most popularity it has had in a long time. But it's still getting taken to the woodshed by the NFL in terms of money and national consciousness. Cuban could provide a huge shot in the arm to all of baseball (and by that I mean, of course, cash money) through ownership of one of its most famous franchises. Straight up, it's a good thing for baseball.

Though Trib owner Sam Zell continues to drag his feet, word is that the financial books that all of the MLB approved Cubs bidders have been pining for are close to being released. Like, this week close. And Cuban is saying he's going to "pull out all the stops" for his bid:

"It's about being a good citizen. It's about contributing to the community, and to me that's viewed to be just as important as Major League Baseball or the Tribune Co. You know, what can I do for Wrigleyville? What can I do for the community? And what are the ways that I fit in and add value? … There are a lot of things we can do communitywise that can enhance my chances, and so I'm gonna pull out all the stops."

My impression on all of this is, in a nutshell, Sam Zell straight doesn't give a shit. Dude wants cash, and lots of it. Zell is about as cuthroat a business man as you'll ever find. He didn't buy the Cubs to sit in the front row, eat hot dogs, wear a foam finger, and cheer along with the rest of us. He bought it as a high stakes version of "Flip this House." He's coming in, cleaning house, figuring out how to squeeze as much cash as possible out of the deal (thus the deal with splitting the club from Wrigley Field), and is moving on to the next property. If Mark Cuban comes in and lets the cash do the talking, putting up the highest bid, I'd like to see that schlub Bud Selig and his group of old guy owners try and stop Zell and Cuban from pushing through the sale.